Part 7 (1/2)

LAWS OF NEW YORK--CHAPTER 170.

An act to amend Section 291 of the Penal Code, relating to Children; became a law, with the approval of the Governor, April 22, 1889.

_The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and a.s.sembly, do enact as follows_:

SECTION I. Section 291 of the Penal Code is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

A person who sells, pays for, or furnishes any cigar, cigarette, or tobacco in any of its forms to any child, actually or apparently under the age of sixteen years, _is guilty of a misdemeanor_.

SEC. 2. This act shall take effect immediately.

In 1890 it was amended, attaching a penalty for its violation, as follows:

AN ACT to amend Section 291 of the Penal Code, relating to Children; approved by the Governor, May 24, 1890.

SECTION I. Section 291 of the Penal Code is hereby amended by adding thereto the following subdivision:

7. No child, actually or apparently under sixteen years of age, shall smoke or in any way use any cigar, cigarette, or tobacco in any form whatsoever, in any public street, place, or resort. A violation of this subdivision shall be a misdemeanor, and shall be punished by a fine not exceeding ten dollars and not less than two dollars for each offense.

SEC. 2. This act shall take effect on the first day of September, eighteen hundred and ninety.

In 1891 an effort was made to introduce the English system of barmaids into the saloons of New York City. This no sooner became known to the members of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union than an effort was made to secure a law prohibiting the movement. This was effected by the pa.s.sage of the following act, April 25, 1892:

AN ACT forbidding the hiring of Barmaids.

_The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and a.s.sembly, do enact as follows_:

SECTION I. No female shall be hired as barmaid, or to compound or dispense intoxicating beverages in any place where the same are sold or offered for sale.

SEC. 2. A person who hires, or causes to be hired, any female as barmaid, or to compound or dispense intoxicating beverages in any place where the same are sold or offered for sale, is guilty of a misdemeanor.

SEC. 3. This act shall take effect immediately.

Thus, at its very inception, legislative enactment prevented the introduction into this state of a most demoralizing phase of the saloon business.

In the same year and month a law forbidding the opening of the New York State exhibit at the Columbian Exhibition was pa.s.sed, thus placing New York State on record as favoring the sanct.i.ty of the Sabbath.

AN ACT in relation to the Exhibit of the State of New York at the World's Columbian Exhibition....

The exhibit of the State of New York at such exhibition shall not be open to the public on Sunday, and the general managers herein provided for shall take such steps as may be necessary to carry this provision into effect.

The following protests were presented to the legislature, receiving such consideration that the subjects had no hearing:

AGAINST THE ENACTMENT OF A LAW LICENSING VICE.

_To the Senate and a.s.sembly of the State of New York_:

WHEREAS, It has come to our knowledge that a bill providing for the regulation and licensing of vice in the cities and towns of the State of New York will be introduced in the legislature, and that one of the provisions of the bill is the compulsory medical examination of women who are inmates of the establishments named therein, we respectfully submit the following in relation to it: